The Bachelor bachelorette Marlena Wesh claims Shanae Ankney did a very good job of gaslighting the other women and making Clayton Echard believe her version of events.
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
RELATED LINK: BACHELOR SPOILERS: WHAT HAPPENS ON CLAYTON ECHARD'S 'THE BACHELOR' SEASON? WHO DOES CLAYTON PICK AS HIS FINAL 3 AND END UP WITH AS HIS WINNER?
According to Marlena, Shanae was basically a pro at manipulating her story to appear innocent and victimized, which seemed to make her look even more desirable in Clayton's eyes.
"Shanae did a very good job at gaslighting," Marlena said.
"And when I say that, I can definitely come from a place where I understand Clayton's perspective -- although sometimes I was like, 'I know you see this!'"
"But at the end of the day, she did a very good job at making things seem one way when they really weren't that way."
Marlena, however, recalled being on the "more neutral side of things," which is probably why fans can recall Shanae taking issue with Genevieve Parisi and Gabby Windey following Elizabeth Corrigan's elimination.
"When I would talk to her, it would always be positive! She never said anything negative to me," Marlena revealed. "And during the span of the entire drama, I was like, 'Okay, well this is just some petty drama... Let's squash it and just move forward.'"
Marlena wished Shanae would "just talk about it" with the other girls, who were so angry and frustrated with Shanae's antics at the time.
"But I didn't see the conversations that we had when I wasn't there. So the conversation with Shanae and Elizabeth that was with Clayton, I didn't see any of that. So I didn't know what happened," Marlena explained.
"I only knew when they would come back and say, 'This person said this,' or, 'This person said that!' It just sounded like some petty stuff that was going on."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS!
Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source!
Going back to that very physical football group date, Marlena pointed out how the girls didn't know at the time they were only supposed to try to tackle the woman with the ball.
"I remember I saw Shanae got the ball, and I just remember [running after] and tackling her," Marlena said with a laugh. "I was like, 'Sack!'"
Shanae then crashed the afterparty that night, although her team had lost the football game and Clayton did not invite her to the evening event.
Not only did Shanae steal Clayton for a makeout session, but she also grabbed the winning team's golden trophy and threw it into the dirt.
"It was disrespectful," Marlena noted.
"It was disrespectful, it was uncalled for, and it shouldn't have happened. And I think that she should've understood her role as part of the losing side and just sucked it up and stayed home."
Marlena recalled getting "nervous" when Shanae put her hands on that trophy.
"I looked at [Sierra Jackson], and I was like, 'Uh oh!' We thought she was going to throw it at us! So we were like, 'Hold on now!'" Marlena revealed.
ADVERTISEMENT
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
Marlena admitted she and Sierra were "taken aback and actually really frightened" once Shanae made that move.
"We thought she was going to throw it at us, and so when she threw it into the bush, we were like, 'Where did this come from and why did it get to this point?'" Marlena said.
"So we were all just really confused."
Marlena also shared how she's been shocked watching Clayton's season back and seeing some of Shanae's commentary and confessionals.
Shanae has been shown boasting about her roses, doing happy dances when other women are eliminated, and even mocking Elizabeth's ADHD disorder.
"ADHD my ass!" Shanae once joked.
"I'm like, 'Ohh! So it was like that?!'" Marlena admitted.
Sierra previously told Becca Kufrin on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast that Shanae was "delusional" and kept dodging the women's attempts to talk about her bullying allegations against Elizabeth and others.
On The Bachelor's 26th season, Shanae told Clayton that Elizabeth was "a bully" and "toxic" to the house, and Lyndsey Windham also left a conversation with Clayton crying during a group date because Shanae had tattled on her for allegedly being a bully as well.
Shanae and Elizabeth's feud ran through multiple episodes of The Bachelor.
It all began when Shanae accused Elizabeth of being "fake" and "two-faced" because Elizabeth had allegedly acted like her friend one minute only to ignore her the next.
ADVERTISEMENT
Shanae told Clayton that she noticed a big "red flag" with Elizabeth, who then apologized to Shanae for making her feel left out. Elizabeth explained she may not have heard Shanae talking to her in a group setting because she struggles to process multiple auditory inputs at once.
Tension mounted when Shanae claimed she had cooked shrimp for the girls and no one wanted any.
Shanae believed Elizabeth -- who allegedly did not acknowledge Shanae's presence while she was sitting in a hot tub -- had turned everyone against her, and the argument came to be known as #ShrimpGate.
Despite having been called a liar and bully, Elizabeth attempted to bury the hatchet with Shanae multiple times and respectfully move on from the drama.
Clayton, however, ended up keeping Shanae and eliminating Elizabeth during the third Rose Ceremony of Season 26, which upset many The Bachelor viewers.
After the episode of Elizabeth's ouster aired, Clayton issued a public apology on both Instagram and Twitter.
"I'm sorry, Elizabeth, for what you're going through. I wish I could have seen what was happening when I wasn't there," Clayton wrote.
"I obviously knew y'all weren't in a good place with each other, but I thought at the time that it was, solely, petty drama. I would have sent Shanae home immediately for making fun of you for being neurodivergent, had I known."
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
Clayton also said watching Season 26 back "hasn't been fun" because he's seeing "the damage" he caused and "the repercussions" from his decisions.
Clayton promised he's learning from his mistakes and wants to come out of this experience a better man, and he reminded everyone that "mental health matters," including his own.
ADVERTISEMENT
Elizabeth replied to Clayton's tweet, "I'm ready," and later posted a lengthy statement on Instagram about how she had felt tormented, attacked, bullied, and physically abused while competing for Clayton's heart.
However, Elizabeth defended Clayton and also informed her followers that Shanae's mental health matters as well.
Meanwhile, Shanae has not apologized or shown any indication of remorse on social media.
Instead, she posted lighthearted video clips of shrimp and herself dancing in her "The Bachelor Bowl" jersey while watching the latest episode.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group!
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
